Thu, Aug 18, 2022 page2

• Taiwan could counter China institutes: UK MP

  MATTER OF TRUST: Alicia Kearns said Taiwan would benefit from teaching Mandarin in the UK, while slamming China’s Confucius Institutes for not teaching ‘accurate history’

  • Staff writer, with CNA, LONDON
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  British lawmaker Alicia Kearns has called on Taiwan to play a bigger role in teaching Mandarin in the UK to enhance public understanding about Taiwan as Britons become increasingly distrustful of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  In a recent interview, the Conservative Party lawmaker expressed her hope that the government of Taiwan “comes proactively to the British government” to offer to help Britons improve their Mandarin.

  A member of the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Kearns in June proposed an amendment to the Higher Education Bill, which would give the government the power to shut down China’s Confucius Institutes over academic freedom concerns.

  

  British lawmaker Alicia Kearns, second left, walks with Ukrainian Members of Parliament Maria Mezentseva, third left, Olena Khomenko, fourth left, Lesia Vasylenko, fifth left, and Alona Shkrum on Downing Street in London on March 17.

  Photo: Reuters

  If people in the UK want to learn Mandarin at university or another school, they can only go to a Confucius Institute, but Confucius Institutes “do not teach accurate history” and are under the control of the Chinese state, Kearns said.

  “That needs to end,” she said, adding that Confucius Institutes, closely tied to the Chinese Ministry of Education, are “the arms of the Chinese state” and are harmful at the level of discussion about and to the understanding of China in the UK.

  Kearns said that Taiwan’s equivalent of Confucius Institutes would expand Britons’ interest in Taiwan beyond the primary focus on defense and security to include its history, culture, bubble tea, the semiconductor industry and other success stories, as well as trade relationships and other exchanges between the two sides.

  The change would shift conversation about Taiwan in the UK “away from Taiwan juxtaposed to the CCP” to one “that is just about our friendship with our friends in Taiwan,” she said.

  A report published in June by the China Research Group, which was set up by Conservative lawmakers in 2020, said that there are 30 university-based Confucius Institutes in the UK, the highest number in the world.

  British schools and universities are reliant on a network of 30 Confucius Institutes to coordinate the teaching of Mandarin, funding and expertise, the group’s report said.

  Last month, former British chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, who is in the race to be the next British prime minister, said that he would shut down all 30 Confucius Institutes if elected, after being accused of being weak on China and Russia.

  “I’m afraid I can’t say that’s not a welcome move,” Kearns said, discussing the issue.

  The average member of the public and definitely conservative voters in the UK have become “very aware of the threat of the CCP in terms of invading our digital freedoms and our liberties,” she said.

  Asked about major concerns in the UK’s bilateral relationships with China, Kearns said one of the biggest priorities is respect for the data of individuals.

  China is building a totalitarian state on the back of data from people around the world, whether it be from China’s video surveillance firm Hikvision, social-media app TikTok or Huawei Technologies, Kearns said.

  “They are sending back data, AI [artificial intelligence] data, hospital data, airport data, prison data, school data, to China, on British people. That is dangerous to our civil liberties, dangerous to our freedoms,” Kearns said.

  Meanwhile, Kearns said the Foreign Affairs Committee would visit Taiwan this year to learn about Taiwan’s experiences in tackling China’s hybrid warfare campaign and other issues related to a trade deal between the UK and Taiwan.

  The visit was initially scheduled for February, but was postponed after some lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19, she said.

  Kearns would not give a date for the visit for security reasons, but said the plan would not be affected by China’s “disproportionate” reactions to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

  British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the committee, is expected to lead the delegation to Taiwan in November or December, an Aug. 2 report in the Guardian said.

  If it happens, it would be the first visit to Taiwan by the committee since 2006.

  Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang (鄭澤光) told a news conference on Aug. 2, when Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, that should British lawmakers visit Taiwan, it would have severe consequences for China’s relationship with the UK.
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